Markowitz's Concerts Are Too Loud

Asser Levy /Seaside Park - July 15, 2010.  Borough President Markowitz’s summer concert series in Asser Levy Park appears to be in violation of a new city law hastily passed last month.

(photo: © Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates. Click on image to enlarge.) 

Brooklyn

Borough President Markowitz’s summer concert series in Asser Levy Park appears to be in violation of a new city law hastily passed last month to allow the performances as long as noise spillover from the band shell does not exceed 10 decibels above typical ambient sound, according to the Brooklyn Paper.

At Thursday night’s Beach Boys-Monkees-Turtles concert, readings taken by this newspaper on a sound meter showed sound levels as high as 30 decibels above the norm, especially during the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.”

And this week’s concert, plus last week’s quieter Neil Sedaka show, are nothing compared to the act that was scheduled to perform on July 29:George Thorogood and the Destroyers — a band notorious for blowing out eardrums with speakers that go up to 11.

The noise levels emanating from the Asser Levy Park band shell are crucial given the law signed by Mayor Bloomberg that amended city law to allow amplified music within 500 feet of a school or house of worship as long as the noise did not exceed 10 decibels above normal street levels.

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The Brooklyn Paper - July 23, 2010 -  By Stephen Brown